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Tata Motors, India’s largest electric vehicle-maker, said on Friday that till battery prices come down, production of a pure EV will be doubtful and, therefore, the company is focussed on launching EVs from the currently available form factors.
The company will launch three EVs by the end of this financial year, including Punch, Harrier, and Curvv (new model), which will be all available in internal combustion engine (ICE) as well as electric form.
“The biggest advantage a pure EV gives is the range as you are not constraint for space because you have designed for that. Till the battery prices come to a level where you can deliver that kind of a range, what addition pure electric is going to give? Therefore, timing is very important and we have timed ourselves very well and derisked ourselves, which is till the battery prices come down, then the whole investment that you put in a pure EV will remain a question mark,” said Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors, Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility.
He said, therefore, it is more important to be pragmatic and not about capability. To make an EV from generation one of a car to generation next might require 3-4X investment, but to make a pure EV, the investment might go up to 10X.
Tata Motors achieved a milestone of selling 1 lakh EVs in the last five years on Friday, with the last 50,000 achieved in just nine months.
The company, as of April-June quarter, has a dominating market share of 71 per cent in India’s total EV market. It has a portfolio of three EVs in the personal car segment — Tiago, Tigor, and Nexon – and Xpress-T in the fleet segment.
Talking subsidies in the EVs, especially with government talking about Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME-III), Chandra said: “This is one segment which should be supportive because if you see from all the angles…90 per cent of the sales come from personal customers and not fleet (which is only 7-8 per cent), so if you really want to bring that change of electrification, then it can come through possible support [from the government].”
At present, the government extends subsidies only on passenger vehicles used by fleet operations under FAME-II scheme.
He added that for Tata Motors, EVs already account for 14-15 per cent of its total sales, which will go up to 25 per cent by 2027 and 50 per cent by 2030.
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